The meeting is the fruit of years of efforts to normalise relations and will be the highest-level interaction since their split in 1949

China and Taiwan will on Tuesday hold their highest-level talks since their acrimonious split 65 years ago - a symbolic yet historic move that marks the first official contact between the former bitter rivals.

The Taiwanese government's Wang Yu-chi, who oversees the island's China policy, will meet his Chinese counterpart Zhang Zhijun for talks set to last until February 14.

The meeting in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing is the fruit of years of efforts to normalise relations and will be the highest-level interaction since their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

That year, two million supporters of the nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan - officially known as Republic of China - after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists.

Ever since, the island and the mainland have been governed separately, both claiming to be the true government of China, only re-establishing contact in the 1990s through quasi-official organisations.

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While no official agenda has been released for the talks - widely seen as a symbolic, confidence-building exercise - Taiwan's Wang last month said they had "crucial implications for further institutionalisation of ties between the two sides".

Taiwan is likely to focus on reaping practical outcomes from the talks, such as securing economic benefits or security assurances, while China has one eye on long-term integration of the island, analysts say.

Beijing views Taiwan as a rebel region awaiting reunification with the mainland, and has repeatedly refused to renounce the possibility of using force to take back the island if necessary.

The current political thaw of a decades-long stalemate comes after the two sides have made cautious steps towards economic reconcilliation in recent years.